1. TRAVEL MEDICINE KIT FOR
ETHIOPIA HIGHLANDS
Dr. Dino Sgarabotto
Malattie Infettive e Tropicali
Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova
2. Vaccinations
• Against Hepatitis A (Havrix): 1° shot covers you for the
travel while 2° shot (after 1-2 months) covers you for life
• Against Typhoid fever (lasts only 3 years). Two choices
available:
– Oral vaccine (Vivotif): 1 tab on alternative days for 3 days,
fasting (far from food; antibiotics and antimalarial forbibben
for 1 week) and can be given in children older than 3 months
– Im. vaccine (Typhym Vi): 1 shot only but can be given in
children older than 5 years
• Against Meningoccus: sub-type A is the most common in
the meningitis belt and so Mencevax ACWY should be
used: 1 im. shot lasts 3 years
• Against Yellow fever: Stamaril 1 im shot only lasts 10
years
• Check you coverage against Tetanus and Hepatitis B
3. The meningitis belt
The meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa,
stretching from Senegal in the west to
Ethiopia in the east, has the highest rates of
the disease.
5. Yellow fever is a compulsory
vaccination to and fro these countries
• Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Burundi, Camerun, Congo, Ivory
Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea
Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger,
Central African Republic,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruanda,
Sao Tomè e Principe, Sierra Leone, Togo
6. Malaria prophylaxis
• Malaria is endemic below 2000 m above sea
• Addis Ababa is 2400 m above sea
• After the rainy season malaria can be found
along rivers and lakes up to 2100 m above sea
• Lariam 250 mg 1 tab a week (continue 1 month
after coming back) or Malarone 250/100 mg 1
tab a day (continue 1 week after coming back)
8. Drugs for a group of 4-5 people
• Doxycycline 100 mg 20 tabs
• Azithromycin 500 mg 6 tabs
• Ciprofloxacin 500 mg 24 tabs
• Paracetamol 500 mg 32 tabs
• Ibuprofen 400 mg 24 tabs
• Loperamide 2 mg 24 tabs (if you are using the
rapidly dissolving tablets, dry your hands before
opening the blister pack to carefully remove a
tablet. Place the tablet on the tongue, allow it to
dissolve completely, then swallow it with saliva)
• Domperidone 10 mg 30 tabs (as above)
9. Other drugs for a group of 4-5 people
• Tetracycline skin ointment 3 tubes
• Hydrocortisone 1% skin ointment 2 tubes
• Tetracycline eye ointment 3 tubes
• Chlorhexidine 1% solution as skin disinfectant 1
small bottle
• Band-Aid type adhesive bandages 2 boxes
• Sterile gauzes for dressing 2 boxes
• Elastic bandages for dressing 2 boxes
• Alcohol based hand sanitazers for each person
10. Useful resourses
• Potatoes: to be grated for preparing a cream
to apply on red eyes
• Coke: drink in small amounts (table spoon)
every 5 min when oral rehydratation solution
not available
11. Different minor settings
• Tonsillitis, otitis and upper respiratory tract
infection: azitromycin OD or doxycycline BD
for 6 days
• Cystitis or traveller’s diarrhoea: ciprofloxacin
BD for 3-5 days
• traveller’s diarrhoea: add 4-5 tabs of
loperamide a day (1 tab every 4-6 hours)
• repeated vomiting: use domperidone 1 tab
every 8 hours for 1 day
